Day 1051 - Halloween

The scariest thing about today was the total lack of activity. I felt like I'd fallen into a black hole. No calls. No e-mail. No work. I'm not even close to the hurricane either. Usually I'm pretty busy in October, but this entire month was pretty dead. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

Our dog training class had their annual Halloween party this evening.  Everyone dresses their dog up in costumes to compete for prizes in a variety of categories. Sometimes we go to a lot of trouble to make our own original costumes and win nothing. Other times we just buy a cheap costume from a party store and win. There's no rhyme or reason to this thing. Dot won tonight in the Diva category wearing a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader outfit. Dash went as a fireman, but won nothing.

I'm always amazed at how much trouble some people go to for a party that seldom lasts over 45 minutes. Tonight one family dressed their dogs up as Ghostbusters, complete with very realistic proton packs on their backs. There was also a Great Dane wearing a saddle and two German Shepherds dressed as wolves in sheep's clothing. Their owner, Little Red Riding Hood, said she made the sheep costumes using the seat covers from her car. The dogs didn't get candy, but there were plenty of dog biscuits to go around. I'm sure your kid's Halloween party was very similar.

I think I made a big mistake ordering something from New York during the hurricane. The store says my order has been shipped, but FedEx begs to differ. They say their trucks aren't even operating in certain parts of the city yet. It appears my lens has fallen into a black hole as well. I'm sure I'll get the order eventually, but I sure wasted my money on FedEx second day delivery.

I didn't get a pumpkin this year. Every time I get decorative pumpkins for the front porch they end up rotting and I have a big mess to clean up around Christmas. Nothing to clean up this year. It's onward to November. I've already voted, so next Tuesday is no big deal. When Thanksgiving rolls around I'm sure everyone will be thankful that all the political ads have finally disappeared from our televisions and phones.

Roxy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1050

Does anyone else think that shopping has become way too difficult? I try my best to buy everything online, because going to a store is usually an exercise in futility. Today I needed some new shoes. Although I have nicer shoes for weddings, funerals, and important meetings, my go-to shoes for all other occasions are a well worn pair of Sperry Top-Siders. Dallas has a big Sperry flagship store, so I thought that would be the best place to find a replacement for my worn out shoes. The store had hundreds of different Sperry designs. You'd think they'd surely have what I wanted: a pair of the original boat shoes Paul Sperry designed in 1935. This style has never changed and are still quite popular. When I asked for a pair, I was told they were a special order item.

Having failed in the shoe department, I moved on to the Apple store and got a Lightning-to-30 Pin adapter, so I could use my old devices and chargers with my new iPhone. Why didn't the geniuses at the Genius Bar tell me that this adapter will only work if your phone doesn't have a case? What is that all about? Everyone has a case for their phone, The adapter was worthless and I had to make a second trip to the store to return it.

Dash didn't do much better than I did today. We waited forever to get his antigen shot today, because it appeared that nobody showed up for work at the vet. They were very shorthanded. Maybe I should have just waited until tomorrow to do all these things. The stars clearly weren't aligned today. Even my online purchases went awry. I though I'd found a place in New York that was still shipping, because the shopping cart dialog box said my order would arrive on Thursday. Five hours after I placed my order, I received an e-mail telling me that the store was actually closed because of the hurricane and that my order would be processed when they reopened again. Oh, well. So much for believing websites.

I shouldn't complain though. The weather is still perfect. The dogs and I had a great walk this morning. We saw our first pelicans of the season. Every year, hundreds of American White Pelicans return to our lake for the Winter. I find the predictability of migratory birds reassuring. Seeing a bird return year after year is much more pleasant than learning that an old high school friend has died, or that you've been fired. Too much in life is unpredictable. Especially shopping.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1049

I've been watching coverage of Hurricane Sandy off and on throughout the day. I'm glad I don't live in a hurricane zone. We have tornadoes here in Texas, but the odds of actually being struck by a tornado are relatively small. Tornadoes are very localized. A tornado can destroy houses in one block and leave the homes in the next block completely untouched. Texas tornadoes come and go fairly quickly too. Usually if you are under a tornado alert, it will typically all be over in an hour or two. Hurricanes last a lot longer and are much harder to avoid. It looks like Hurricane Sandy is over seven hundred miles wide and is in the process of swallowing up entire states. I'm glad I'm far, far away and I hope that my readers on the East Coast will stay safe.

Monday's are typically slow, but today was not your average Monday. I was busy most of the day making changes to various websites. Most of the updates were easy, but one request was for something I had completely forgotten how to do. Instead of admitting that I didn't have a clue about making this particular update, I spent a couple of hours on Google researching the subject and brushing up on my Javascript skills. By mid-afternoon, I had everything running smoothly. The whole episode taught me a valuable lesson: never put any code on a website that you are likely to forget later.

A saw a large hawk on our morning walk. I think it was a Ferruginous Hawk, but it could easily have been a Red Tail Hawk instead. There are lots of bunnies in the park this year. The hawks have probably returned to eat the bunnies. I need to start taking my camera again, because these birds are beautiful when you catch one in flight.

It's kind of weird to turn on the television and hear people talking about the weather instead of the election. I actually prefer hearing about the weather, even if it is a big storm. I hope the hurricane passes quickly though. I need to order some camera equipment from B&H in New York, and it will be nice when my East Cost clients get back to work again. I certainly didn't get any assignment from the East Coast today.

Dakota is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1048

I need a new car. The old Defender is getting a little long in the tooth and it would be nice to be driving something reliable again. Unfortunately the only car I'd really like is another Defender. For reasons that remain a mystery to me, Land Rover will not be bringing the Defender back to America until at least 2015. I wonder if my car will last that long?

Today, Janet wanted me to take the Defender up to the dog park and I had to run through a NASA style checklist just to make sure the car was roadworthy. After 100,000 miles, things start to fall off these Defenders. I still drive the car almost everyday, but not with other people inside. My schedule is so amorphous that it is no big deal for me to wait two hours for the AAA tow truck.  Other people have places to go.

At any rate, I pumped up the tires, checked for leaking hoses and off we went. I have to double clutch now, since the synchronizers are gone, but I'm getting pretty good at it. The trip was uneventful and the dogs loved the park today. The weather was absolutely perfect. All the bad weather in the Northeast is bringing good weather to the Southwest. Dash was full of himself today. He repeatedly raced from one end of the park to the other and was faster than any of the other dogs. If you've never seen a Dalmatian run, it's a beautiful sight. They are really quite graceful.

When we returned to the house, I had work to do. I wonder when people stopped respecting weekends as a time of rest and relaxation? I get as many requests on the weekends now as on any other day of the week. I would just as soon do nothing on the weekends, but I usually try to get the weekend assignments completed, so that they don't bog me down when Monday arrives. I got two major website updates completed this afternoon. I would have rather watched a movie, but I'll have to admit that last minute website updates still beat mowing the grass.

I saw my first Kestrel of the season while I was taking the dogs on their evening walk. These small falcons are all over the place during the Winter, but I've never seen one during the Summer months. One by one, all the Winter birds and animals are returning. Redbirds have taken up residence in our yard again and one bold Cardinal apparently wants to build a nest in my office. He pecks on my office window every morning and when I won't let him in, he goes and poops on my car. What is it with these destructive animals? I think this bird has been talking to a certain armadillo.

Abi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1047

Janet and I went over to the neighborhood health food store to get our blood tested this morning. The store has these cholesterol screening events four times a year and they are dirt cheap, especially compared to what your doctor would normally charge. The huge price differential for lab work sums up the whole health care delima for me. When my doctor does my blood work, Labcorp bills my insurance a minimum of $400. Hey, why not. They know that my insurance will pay. When essentially the same labs do these public events for seniors, the test costs $20. That's what they know people will be willing to pay using their own money. I'm sure the lab makes a profit in both cases. It's just insane. So why is medicine so expensive? Because the money is there. If everybody was paying for healthcare with their own money like they do when they take their dog to the vet, costs would be much, much lower. Yeah, I know. Some people don't take their dog to the vet, because they don't want to spend the money. Some people wouldn't go to the doctor for the same reason. In general, medical costs would be much lower without insurance though. The only fly in the ointment would be that more people would die.

I wonder why I hate health insurance so much? I'm perfectly fine with car insurance. Homeowners insurance isn't so bad either. Maybe car insurance just seems more fairly priced and health insurance seems like a rip off. All I know is that a simple blood test should never cost $400.

I opened the filter drawer of the new furnace today to measure the filter and discovered that the filter was already filthy. It needed to be changed. How did that happen so quickly?  When I went to look for a new filter, I discovered that my filter was a very odd size. It couldn't be 10x20 or 20x20 like most furnaces. That would be too easy. No, it had to be a special size. I finally found a filter that would fit, and as you might expect, it was more expensive than the other filters. Hopefully, this fancy new energy efficient furnace will save me enough in gas to pay for all the filters I'll need.

After our blood test, Janet and I went out for breakfast at the restaurant with good bacon. She couldn't believe that I'd already tried everything on the menu. Hey, aren't there 52 Friday's in a year?  That's a lot of breakfast choices. 

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1046

I passed a polling station when I was running errands today, so I decided to take advantage of early voting. As usual, my first thought when voting was, "Whoa, if all these people ahead of me in line can actually vote, we're screwed." My next thought is often "Hmm, I wonder if these electronic voting machines are actually hooked up to anything?" Voting using a touch screen is still a bit disconcerting to me. Where does your vote go?  Once you are finished voting electronically, there is no proof that you did anything at all. At least when you buy something in a store, you get a receipt. I've never gotten a receipt for casting my vote in my life. It is all an act of faith.

While I was waiting in line, I saw at least five large red signs that clearly said No cell phones or digital cameras allowed within 100 yards of the polls. I also saw at least fifteen people checking their Facebook accounts with their phones within a few feet of the door that led to the voting booths. So much for that rule. There were also signs warning people not to engage in campaigning in front of the polling station. This sign seemed to be ignored as well. There was a guy holding a huge placard standing right by the front door, asking everyone to vote for his candidate.  It took me about 45 minutes to go through the line and press all the buttons on the touch screen voting machine. I'm done now, although I will continue to wonder if my vote will actually be counted.

I hope my guy wins, but I'm not expecting any miracles whatever happens. I've never seen the country as divided as it is right now. Whichever presidential candidate happens to win will still have to deal with the other half of the country who thinks he's the devil incarnate. Polarization leads to Paralyzation. I am increasingly convinced that we have lost the ability to reach a consensus on anything at all and are headed for permanent gridlock. It's kind of sad. The unified spirit that won World War II and took us to the moon has dissolved into petty bickering. Instead of unity, we have become tribal, with no loyalties beyond our own little tribes.

Hey, at least my new furnace works. It was forty degrees outside this morning and the house was toasty warm. The air doesn't seem to flow through the vents quite as fast with this new furnace, but the thermostat works better, so the net result is about the same. I think the cold weather is going to continue through the weekend. At least we don't have to deal with the "Frankenstorm" that is headed toward the East Coast. I'd hate to have a new furnace and no electricity.

For the second week in a row, I forgot to take the trash out to the street on Thursday evening. The only reason I managed to get my trash picked up today was that I heard the garbage truck banging and rattling down the street and rushed out to greet it with my can. I can take comfort that I've resolved one memory loss moment, but I still have another one to deal with tomorrow. The local health food store is giving cholesterol screening blood tests in the morning and I need to remember not to eat breakfast before I go in for my test. Sometimes I remember these things. Sometimes I don't.

Pearl is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1045

I enjoyed going to the video production seminar today. They didn't have barbecue after all, but the catered tex/mex lunch was quite tasty. I can't say that I learned anything that would benefit me personally, but I continue to be fascinated by how much the industry has changed. Production equipment that used to be reserved for Hollywood directors and million dollar edit suites is now affordable and readily available to all. If you have your heart set on making a feature film, access to professional equipment is no longer a limiting factor. All you really need now is a great idea and the discipline to put a film together.

I'd love to have one of those new Canon EOS C500 Cinema cameras. I can't say that I need one though. The only video I shoot these days could easily be captured with a cell phone. All my clients want is something quick and easy that they can slap up on YouTube. Low resolution and out of focus seems just fine to them. I'm sure people are still doing high end video somewhere, but it's definitely a different group of people. I see folks who work for professional sports teams and houses of worship at these seminar events, but very few of my old buddies who used to churn out corporate videos. The corporate world has moved on and left the old video guys behind.

Maybe Winter is on its way. A cold front blew through from the North late today and the temperature dropped more than twenty degrees in just a few hours. I have a feeling that I'll finally get to use the new furnace this weekend. The dogs always seem to enjoy the cooler weather. The cool air gives them extra energy. I had someplace to go this evening, so I was trying to hurry them along on their evening walk. Dot and Dash had other plans. They were both determined to have a walk that was long enough to make me late. They succeeded.

If it gets colder tonight, I might have to put a little more thought into where I have breakfast tomorrow. There's nothing better than a good hot breakfast on a cold morning.

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1044

When I was a kid, I used to watch The Twilight Zone every Friday evening. It was one of my favorite shows. At the time, the endings to those shows never failed to surprise me. Occasionally, they even scared me. I've started watching The Twilight Zone again on cable. What a difference a few decades makes. Now each episode seems like a simple morality play, where someone must come to terms with good and evil. These are surprisingly uplifting tales about angels, devils, fear and greed; all with a moral at the end. How could I have been scared by these little dramas? Many of the episodes could be used as Sunday School lessons. Times have certainly changed. Just think about what scares us today.

The other surprising thing about those old Twilight Zone episodes is how good the acting was. You'll see someone who looks a lot like a young Robert Redford, and when the credits roll at the end, it turns out that it actually was Robert Redford. Just last night, I watched an episode where the lead was played by a very young Carol Burnett. I've also seen William Shatner, Charles Bronson, Elizabeth Montgomery, and Burgess Meredith in Twilight Zone episodes. It says a lot about our society today that I've gotten hooked on The Twilight Zone again. It's not because the shows are bizarre or frighting, but because of the simple goodness they now represent.

Today was like watching paint dry. It didn't seem like anything happened all day. I did manage to complete one of my writing assignments, but I saved the others for later in the week. There's no sense in using up all my work in a single day. Things are so slow that I think I'll go to another video editing seminar tomorrow. In addition to chowing down on a plate of free brisket and coleslaw for lunch, I'll learn how to migrate my studio to a tapeless work flow. Actually, I haven't shot anything on video tape for several years, so I guess I'm really going to this event for the barbecue.

The dogs had a new exercise to learn at training class this evening. They had to run a gauntlet between two long rows of sitting dogs. Dot and Dash both did pretty well at this odd task, although I doubt that they'll have much use for this skill later in life. It's weird. Those old Twilight Zone shows seem completely normal to me now, but dog training class occasionally seems a bit like traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. Your next stop...The Twilight Zone.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1043

I hate it when your body starts to fall apart. I'm finally getting used to the carpal tunnel in my left hand, and then I wake up this morning with exactly the same pain in my right hand. How could that happen overnight? Maybe one of the dogs slept on my hands. Maybe the bad dreams I've been having are seeping into my muscles and bones. I don't know what caused this, but it's irritating. I guess that I'll have to start doing my stretching exercises on the other hand as well.

I spent most of the day writing. I've covered some subjects I write about so thoroughly now that new articles are starting to sound a lot like stuff I've already written. That's the danger of being considered an expert in a given subject. You just end up doing the same thing over and over again.

A friend told me today that he couldn't work on a certain piece of business for ethical reasons. Then he asked me if I'd like to work on it instead. Yeah, sure. Whatever. Everyone knows that I have no ethics to speak of.

Apple introduced a cute little iPad today and the stock went down 18 points. What was that all about?  I think people expect too much these days. Maybe folks thought this new iPad costs too much. Maybe they thought it was too much like a Kindle or a Nook. Hey, it was a cute little iPad. I wouldn't mind having one. The stock should have gone up.

I think people are expecting too much from the upcoming elections as well. If you believe all the people on Facebook, the world is going to end if one candidate or the other gets elected. I don't think so. I know who I'm going vote for, but if the other guy happens to win, life will continue more or less as usual. The country is so divided now that we're going to be locked in a gridlocked stalemate for a long, long time.

There's a new lens I'd like to get for the video camera. This lens has gotten fabulous reviews, but it happens to be the manual focusing variety. My eyes aren't as good as they used to be unfortunately. A lens I can't even focus properly isn't going to be very useful. I wonder who's going to win this little dilemma: practical John, or gadget boy? 

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1042

It was quiet when I woke up this morning. Janet had already left for work and both dogs had returned to the bed after they finished their breakfast. I must have been quite tired last night. I didn't hear any of the normal Monday morning activities. There wasn't much reason to get up early anyway. I've got a couple of projects on deck for tomorrow, but today was very slow.

Since there wasn't anything better to do, I decided to watch the Prometheus DVD I got this weekend. I'll have to say that I was a bit disappointed when the whole thing turned out to be sort of a prequel to the Alien series of films. I would think that there will be a sequel to this film as well. Everything is left pretty open ended with the one surviving character sailing off to continue her quest in a recovered alien spacecraft.

Even though I tried, I couldn't kill the entire day doing nothing. I answered the weekend's e-mail messages, did some minor website revisions for one of my clients, and did a little research for tomorrow's projects. This week could actually turn out to be a busy one.

Now that I've been looking at the park with a critical eye for over a year with my camera, I've noticed that plants aren't the only things that follow seasonal cycles. Not only are the trees starting to turn color at exactly the same time as they did last year, the animals are starting to behave the same way as well. The squirrels have started gathering nuts for the winter again and are much easier to photograph. When these squirrels are focused on a nut, even the dogs don't distract them. Huge flocks of starlings are beginning to roost in trees again every evening around sunset. The only thing that has changed since last year, was that a year ago I thought these birds were crows. I'm not exactly James Audubon, but I do learn a few things here and there.

Like many of you, I will watch the final presidential debate this evening. I don't expect to learn anything new. One side will be saying bin Laden, bin Laden, bin Laden, while the other side will be saying bin Ghazi, bin Ghazi, bin Ghazi. Maybe they'll be some talk about China as well. China is really the elephant in the room when it comes to world affairs. Nobody seems happy that China makes all our stuff and owns most of our debt. I don't know what any politician can do about the situation though. Politicians don't understand the nature of a Pandora's Box. Once you open the box, you can't close it again.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1041

Sunday is cleaning day at our house. The floors get cleaned. The cars get cleaned. Even the dogs get cleaned. Although I could daydream in the shower until the hot water runs out, the dogs don't share my sentiments about getting clean. Dot and Dash both hate getting a bath. When we pull up in front of Vheas LaundroMutt, Dot glues herself to the back seat of the car and won't come out. It's quite an effort to get her out of the car, because she's gotten quite good at turning herself into an immovable object. Dash doesn't resist going into the bathing tubs, he just howls the entire time the water is running. Despite all the protesting, the dogs seem to enjoy being cleaner. They don't scratch as much and at least for a little while, their coats feel silky smooth.

I thought I had finished mowing the grass for the season, but our Indian Summer weather has caused the grass in the front yard to start growing again. The grass in the back yard would probably be growing too, if there was any grass. Maybe I ought to thank the armadillo for cutting my mowing chores in half. I can't imagine the warm weather staying around that much longer. Maybe this will finally be the last time I have to get the lawn mower out for the season.

I bought a DVD of that science fiction movie Prometheus when I was shopping this weekend. If you remember, this Ridley Scott film was finally going to get me back into a movie theater again. It didn't. Maybe nothing will ever get me back in a theater again. Movies look pretty darn good on a big flat screen in your house. I've gotten to the point where I just don't like dealing with crowds anymore.

It wasn't always this way. I used to love going to concerts. Crowd certainly didn't bother me when I saw The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, and the Stones. Of course, this was some time ago. Keith Moon was still playing drums when I saw The Who. Liv Tyler wasn't even born yet when I saw Aerosmith. Springsteen wasn't playing stadiums shows when I saw him. I think the theater in Seattle where I saw that concert only seated 3,000 people. I think the last live concert I saw was on August 20, 1983 when Simon & Garfunkel came to Dallas during their reunion tour. That was a good show.

Now, I just watch British comedies on PBS with the dogs. We like Reggie Perrin, Black Books, and Outnumbered. I think I've seen enough of Are You Being Served, however. I'm pretty sure that's what's on later tonight.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1040

You'd think that on Day 1040, I'd be working on my taxes or something. Nope. Just another day full of weekend errands. Every weekend, we stock up on groceries and supplies. Then, we methodically use everything up during the week, so we can repeat the whole process the next weekend. I'm always amazed at how much trash two people and two dogs can generate. We lead a simple life, but somehow there is always a huge amount of trash to take to the street every Friday. I think it is the packaging. Even the simplest thing comes shrink wrapped and boxed in layers and layers of packaging. Even though I hate all the boxes, I save a fair amount of them. I've been told so many times that if you save the packaging, you will get a lot more on eBay if you decide to sell it later. Maybe so. In the mean time, I've got tons of boxes I don't need.

I'm still a little puzzled at how best to go about getting more blog readers since the demise of Entrecard. Reading doesn't appear to be very popular anymore. My other social media efforts, which rely more on pictures, seem to be doing fine. My Google+ page is mostly pictures. I post a lot of pictures on Twitter too. I have a sneaking feeling that a lot of people come here for the pictures too. It would be interesting if Google Analytics had a way of tracking people who actually read the articles. I bet that number would be very small.

While I'm on the subject of Google, I saw the Google Street View car drive by my house today. I wonder how often they update those Street View pictures?  This is the third time I've seen the Google photo car in my neighborhood. One of these days I'm going to be quick enough to wave at the car as it drives by. Maybe then, I will actually be in the Street View picture.

I stopped by an animal rescue resale shop in my neighborhood while I was running errands this afternoon. There was a young couple trying to give their puppy away to the store manager. It was sad to watch. Why do people get pets they aren't willing to keep and take care of? The manager was trying to direct the couple to no-kill shelters in the area. The couple was acting like it was the most normal thing in the world to get rid of their dog. I just don't understand people.

Emily is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1039

The week ended well. I finally got paid on an invoice that was long overdue. A watch that I'd been waiting for arrived in the mail. A picture that I uploaded to Google got 49 +1's. I tried to avoid looking at the stock market today, because I knew it would spoil my good mood.

It's amazing how quickly the year has gone by. It will be Halloween soon. The stores are full of pumpkins and candy. They are also full of Christmas decorations. It appears that the Christmas season starts a little earlier every year. The dogs have a Halloween party every year at their training class. Maybe Dot will go as a diva and wear her Justin Mcmillon dog coat.

You guys probably haven't hear about Justin Mcmillon. He makes a decent living creating custom coats and collars for Dalmatians. Only Dalmatians! Can you imagine a business more specialized than this? Dalmatian owners around the world rave about Justin though. I know people that own four of his coats and claim he is the Karl Lagerfeld of doggie duds. Is this a great country or what! You can do absolutely anything you want, and if you meet a need, you will make money. You go, Justin!

Our beautiful Fall weather continues unabated. I'm enjoying walking the dogs these days. We're right in between the sweaty clothes season and the coats and sweaters season. I can leave the house in a t-shirt and jeans and come home an hour later still feeling comfortable. The dogs love this weather. It would be nice if it would last through November, but it probably won't.

There's absolutely nothing on the agenda for this weekend. I wonder what I'm going to write about tomorrow. I'm sure I'll think of something.

Diva is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1038

Wow! Google stock dropped over 10% in a matter of minutes today, all because a bad quarterly report was released a little prematurely. The slide was so precipitous that trading was halted for several hours. I'm certainly glad that I didn't buy any Google shares yesterday. All this just confirms my feeling that it has become too dangerous for the small investor to day trade anymore. Events happen rapidly and the market responds almost instantly. By the time the average guy has time to react, it's too late. Google is still a good company though. If the overreaction to the poor earnings continues, it might be wise for me to buy some shares.

I found one of those little square discontinued iPod nanos I've been looking for, thanks to a regular blog reader. Now, if I could only convince you readers to find me jobs and clients as well. That would be great.

The dogs have been loving this beautiful Fall weather. They can't go lounge in the grass after lunch like they used to, thanks to our armadillo friend who tore the yard up. The lack of grass hasn't detered them in the least unfortunately. When I let the dogs outside, they immediately go roll in the dirt and get filthy. I try my best to clean them off before they come inside again, but the house is getting dirtier every day. I'll be glad when the leaves finally fall and cover up the dirt. There isn't any point in planting new grass this late in the season. We'll just repeat what we did last year and let the leaves cover everything up until Spring.

I just finished watching a live feed of the Al Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner. I've always been a fan of self depreciating humor, and these events featuring the presidential candidates doing stand-up comedy routines seldom disappoint. I wish the candidates would act like this all the time. I'd much rather see people making sarcastic jokes about each other than just resort to calling their advisory a liar. There's a lot to be said for using humor to deal with complex issues. I'd love to see a debate where both candidates checked political correctness at the door and the guy with the most biting humor won. Maybe Jon Stewart could be the moderator.

Little Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1037

I was somewhat reassured after visiting with my financial advisor this afternoon. When I backed off and took a longer view of things, I realized that I wasn't in that bad shape after all. What the hell. I don't have any debts and I still make enough to pay the bills. I really shouldn't complain. The hard thing for me to deal with is that I've always been a saver and it used to be so much easier to tuck a little away for a rainy day. I miss the 1980's when 10-year Treasury yields were over 12% and the conventional wisdom was that the value of your house would go up forever.

Times sure have changed. Treasury yields are at a 112 year low and I don't even want to talk about the housing market. You can't give up though. My advisor and I put stop loss orders on several positions that have done well this year to lock in gains. We talked about what to do if Obama won. And what to do if Romney won. In either case, there would definitely be things to take advantage of and other things to avoid. I like to be prepared. What I don't like is living in a world of diminished expectations for the foreseeable future. I would love to see a return to the overwhelming feeling of optimism that prevailed when John F. Kennedy was president. We need grand dreams like we had back then. It doesn't need to be going to the moon, but it needs to be something equally grand. I think those kind of dreams died when Kennedy was shot in Dealey Plaza and never returned again.

I used to have grand dreams. My grandest dreams actually took place while I was asleep. I could fly and travel through time long before I even heard of Dr. Who. Now my dreams are pathetic. I'm usually just lost in a hotel somewhere, looking for my luggage. I wouldn't call my waking hours pathetic, but there are definitely on the dull side. I take pictures of flowers. I walk dogs. I make a little money to pay the bills. There are no more plans to win an Oscar for best documentary anymore. There are no plans to make any films at all. When conversations veer off into one of those "what are you passionate about" discussions, I don't even feel like talking.

Maybe if I were passionate about dog training like some folks in our Wednesday evening class, Dash might be winning ribbons again. I'm not very competitive, or very passionate. I just go to these classes because it's good for Dot and Dash to be around other dogs. Socializing with other dogs helps keep ours happy and well adjusted. The training exercises themselves are silly though. A lot of things in life are just silly.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1036

I'm trying to think of some intelligent questions to ask my financial advisor tomorrow when we have our quarterly meeting. I'm sure he's sick of me asking him why I'm still not back to even after the 2008 crash. I'm sure he's sick of me asking why stocks tend to go down after we buy them, rather than before. In fairness, my advisor keeps reminding me that my portfolio would look a little more solid if I wasn't continually taking money out to buy stuff. He thinks we are still doing pretty good, considering how the economy is doing both here and elsewhere. Maybe. I just remember a time when I was doing much, much better. It is simply irritating that a strategy that has worked for me for much of my adult life doesn't appear to work anymore. We'll see how tomorrow's meeting goes. Personally, I think investing has become almost indistinguishable from gambling.

I got my wish for another slow day. OK guys, that's enough. I was just kidding. You can start sending me work again. Why is it that freelancing or running a small business is always feast or famine? I am continually either too busy or not busy enough. I wish I knew how to strike a balance, but so far having just the right amount of work has eluded me. Even using the slow times to market myself has its perils. Usually there is such a time lag between marketing and actually seeing new assignments that the marketing efforts just create sharper peaks and valleys down the road somewhere.

I like stability and predictability. I know, for example, that today is the day for Dash's antigen shot. We do this every other Tuesday at 2 PM, year in and year out. Dash enjoys his trip to the vet and I"m never in a panic to get him there, because I know exactly what to expect. I wouldn't mind a bit if everything were this predictable. Maybe I would work on oil and gas projects on Mondays, design some websites on Tuesdays, do a little photography on Wednesdays, and so on. Life isn't like this though. In the real world, work is just moments of boredom, punctuated by moments of stress and panic.

I guess I'll watch the presidential debates this evening. All the pundits tend to describe these debates as if they were a wrestling match. You almost expect Michael Buffer to come out right before the debate begins and deliver his famous catchphrase Let's get ready to rumble. I expect that both sides will say that their man won right after the debate is over. That's the way these things work.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1035

Have you tried to buy a discontinued product lately? It used to be that you could often buy discontinued products for years after they'd been replaced. When stores kept their own inventories, they would often tempt you with fantastic closeout prices, just to get the items of their shelves. Everything has changed now. Most merchants have adopted "just in time" inventory policies and keep a bare minimum of products on their shelves. They depend on computers to tell them which products are popular and on the FedEx delivery man to deliver fresh supplies each morning. This makes it very easy for manufacturers to make products vanish almost instantly when they've been discontinued.

I only mention this because I've be trying to find some of those little square iPod nanos. They weren't discontinued all that long ago, but they've totally vanished from store shelves. I'm not surprised that you can't find these things at the Apple store anymore, but you'd think Fry's, B&H, Best Buy, or Radio Shack would have a few left. Nope! It's like the little square nano never even existed. I guess I could still find something on eBay, but I've grown weary of the bidding process. I prefer a transaction I can complete in twenty seconds.

Our beautiful Indian Summer continues. The days are noticeably shorter now and the leaves are starting to turn. I've started noticing more bird activity as well. Since I've already managed to get good pictures of all the critters that aren't scared of the dogs, it might be time to invest in a longer telephoto lens. There are lots of animals I routinely see in the distance, but can never approach because of Dot and Dash.

It was a typical Monday. There were very few requests all day. I used the extra time to finish up the few remaing projects from last week. As far as I can tell, I'm all caught up now. I wouldn't mind if tomorrow is a slow day as well. Of course, if the inactivity continues throughout the week, I'll start to get nervous. Being on your own is always a delicate balance. You want to make sure that there is always enough work to pay the bills, while still trying to avoid the overloads that drive you crazy.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day